


la dolce vita

by teachans



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, wonwoo is whipped and that's all you need to know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 10:09:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15628425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teachans/pseuds/teachans
Summary: wonwoo saves all his summers for junhui.





	la dolce vita

i.

wonwoo loved the summer.

he loved the laziness of it, loved to lie on his bed and listen to the quiet hum of the afternoon mixed in with the sounds of the neighbors’ windchimes and ice clinking in his glass of lemonade or iced tea. he loved to go out to the playground in the park at the end of the street and read on the swings. it was long abandoned by the neighborhood kids, who were older now and prefered to be holed up in air conditioned rooms or convenience stores; most days, he had it all to himself. on hotter days, he spent hours in the bath, watching his fingertips wrinkle in the bubbly water and staring at the cracks on the ceiling.

summers in his hometown were idyllic, in a state where reality seemed to be altered. it was a quiet, still patch of the world, frozen in a halcyon period of time where things weren’t heading to hell. wonwoo prefered it that way.

despite his romanticized version of the season he kept in his head, in reality, it got quite lonely. his parents were hardly home and these were the months where their work was busiest, busier than usual at least, and it kept them from coming home until midnight or the wee hours of the morning. there were only so many times he could walk the same streets before losing his mind to the monotonous routine or the heatstroke.

but during the summer he turned fifteen, he met junhui.

 

ii.

the first time wonwoo saw him, he was moving into the house across a small convenience store he frequented. he was sat on the curb, watching a taxi pull up to the house as he sipped at his soda. a boy hopped out of the backseat, dust billowing from where his sneakers touched the ground. he pulled out a red suitcase from the trunk and wonwoo squinted to read the various stickers plastered on it. they were mostly from different places: paris, athens, los angeles, hong kong, and more he couldn’t catch. judging also from the worn condition of the suitcase, wonwoo reckoned he was well-traveled.

he caught a glimpse of his face, tanned skin, big eyes, sharp nose. he smiled as he thanked and paid the taxi driver and wonwoo noticed his mouth curled into a heart shape, he had braces too. he was wearing a button-down shirt a few sizes too big with the sleeves bunched up at the elbows and tucked into ripped blue jeans. his chestnut hair was neatly styled and fell on his face delicately. wonwoo squirmed, feeling a tad too shabby in his worn out basketball shorts and his pajama top.

as the taxi sped off in a cloud of dust, wonwoo spotted a small middle-aged woman with a cropped, curly hairdo emerge from the house in a floral apron. she cooed in a language he couldn’t understand and embraced the boy so tightly he thought his lanky frame would snap in half. in a surprising feat of strength, she took his suitcase and hauled it up the steps and into the house with him trailing after her; wonwoo could smell something cooking inside. his stomach began to growl.

—

the next wednesday, wonwoo found him in the playground, reading a book on a bench underneath the early afternoon sun. he noticed he was squinting and blinking hard to shake the sun out of his eyes and his thighs and forearms had turned a shade of red (one wonwoo was familiar with and would not like to experience again in his lifetime). he felt bad watching him singe in the heat, so he mustered up whatever courage he had and approached him (rather slowly, like how one would approach a wild animal).

“hi,” wonwoo mumbled, nerves probably evident in the weird pitch of his voice.

“hi,” repeated the other. his eyes strained to focus on him, but he was backlit with the sun behind him. wonwoo noticed how his eyes were a pretty shade of amber in the light.

“um, i-i suggest you should sit on the swings,” stuttered wonwoo. “th-the tree by it gives it shade and it’s much cooler under there. y-you won’t get burnt.”

the other looked startled, as if the idea jolted through his whole body at that moment. “oh! o-okay… thank you…” he spoke formally and with a slight accent.

while he transferred to the swing set, wonwoo stood unsure in the middle of the park. he had given the boy his favorite spot, and while there was the other empty swing, he wasn’t sure he wanted to sit by a total stranger especially when there were so many other surfaces to stay. but the boy looked back with questioning eyes and cocked his head, as if to ask “are you not coming?” and wonwoo saw no other desirable option.

he sat on the swing next to his and gave a polite nod and a smile before opening up his book, the other followed suit. they sat in silence for awhile with only the sound of flipping pages, the screechy metal creaks of the aged swing set, and the rustling leaves as their company. wonwoo would occasionally take furtive glances at the other boy engrossed in his read. up close, he noticed a constellation of moles littered across his cheeks and neck. he peeked at his book, written in symbols different from his own, chinese most likely. he scanned his features: distinct, pretty, soft and sharp in all the right places. and when he tried to take another look, the other was already looking back.

wonwoo wobbled in his swing and the boy giggled, “why do you keep looking?” he asked. to his surprise his tone was not one of anger or annoyance, but of curiosity and amusement, as if he were playing with a pet.

“i- i just, you were, uh,” he fumbled. he prodded the deepest corner of his mind for an excuse other than ‘you’re pretty’ and remembered the small tube of sunblock he carried in his pocket. “y-your sunburn looks like it hurts, s-so,”—he handed him the sunblock— “i thought you should use this. y-you know, to keep you from getting even more burnt?”

the boy blinked his big eyes and his mouth curled up into a goofy grin. he took the tube and mumbled a “thank you” before inspecting it like it was an ancient relic found in a thousand-year-old cave. only then wonwoo remembered he wasn’t from here and that everything he said may have just been gibberish flowing from one ear and out the other.

“wait, do you understand me?” he asked.

the boy lifted his hand and put his index finger and thumb close together, but not quite touching, “a little bit.”

wonwoo nodded, and remembered again that he didn’t know the other’s name. “oh! i’m wonwoo by the way. jeon wonwoo.”

“wen junhui,” he replied. “you can call me jun, though.” wonwoo nodded.

“uh, h-how did you learn korean?”

“i studied a bit. for a year i think? i’m still learning.”

“you’re pretty good for only a year,” wonwoo marveled, junhui blushed. the silence returned and the air around them turned awkward, they had to laugh.

junhui took a quick glance at his watch and got up from the swing too quickly, startling wonwoo. “i should go. my aunt might be waiting for me.”

“oh, okay,” wonwoo got up as well, and was surprised to find he had closed his book some time earlier, but wasn’t sure when. “well, my house is just down the street, you can come and have a glass of water, i-if you want, o-of course…” he offered, slightly surprised at the sudden bout of generosity and hospitality.

“i don’t—” he cut himself short. junhui palmed at his throat, his adam’s apple bobbing. “actually, s-sure. i am kind of thirsty.” he laughs. “i hope that’s okay with you.” wonwoo nodded and reassured him it was fine.

they walked shrouded in silence once more, books underneath their arms and heads scorching hot from the sun. wonwoo saw junhui constantly looking up and around. he seemed like a little kid wandering through an aquarium or zoo, ooh-ing and aah-ing at everything in sight, wonwoo thought it was kind of endearing.

when they reached wonwoo’s place, he headed for the kitchen and poured junhui and himself a glass of water. junhui stood in the living room, rocking on the balls of his feet and wincing at the sting of his burns. wonwoo gave him his glass and sat him down on the couch.

“i-i’ll get you something for your sunburn.” he said. he dashed upstairs and raided his mother’s bathroom cabinets until he produced a palm-sized tub of aloe vera.

“here,” he offered, handing the tub to junhui, “it’ll make it feel better. you can put some on now if you like.”

junhui did what he was told and coated his arms and legs in the substance. he sighed at the coolness of it on his skin. “my aunt’s going to kill me when she sees me,” he chuckles. “she told me to put on sunblock before leaving the house, but i forgot. it was cloudy outside when i left anyway,” he pouted.

wonwoo found himself smiling at his words. “that’s okay, i guess now you’ll remember.” he said.

junhui put the aloe vera tub on the coffee table as he stood up to retrieve his book. “i guess i’ll head home now,” he said with a small wave and a tilt of his head. “see you, jeon wonwoo.”

“bye…” wonwoo mumbled as he watched junhui walk the other way towards his street. he stood with his back to the door, bringing hands to his heated cheeks and wondered if he was red from the sun or something else entirely.

 

iii.

wonwoo had assumed that was the last of his close encounters with wen junhui, but he had taken a liking to the old playground the same way wonwoo had. they often sat together, reading and listening to the swings creaking beneath them while their slippers kicked up the gravel at their feet. sometimes they didn’t read at all, sometimes they would be invested in the shape of the clouds or made up stories about the lovers who owned the initials etched into the tree next to the swings. wonwoo had grown fond of the company and the boy who kept him company. soon their bond had blossomed forth, grew toward and faced the sun.

it was on wednesdays and fridays at 2 in the afternoon when wonwoo learned the most about junhui. he found his parents’ work had taken them all over the world, and junhui, as young as five, had tagged along with them (explaining the luggage stickers). according to him, his favorite place was new york.

“i was only eight, i think? but there was something so special about the lights, the people, all the colors… it was so beautiful. finally seeing a place you’ve only seen on tv and pictures is so overwhelming. ”

wonwoo loved the way he talked about the places he had been. with a history and a passport like his, it would be easy to slip into the spirit of arrogance, but junhui spoke with longing and wonder in his voice. it made wonwoo homesick for a place he had never been, a place that was never home. he loved it especially when junhui talked about paris. he’d always wanted to go there, and when junhui recounted his visit from a few years ago, wonwoo felt like he was actually there sitting in a cafe across from him or peering out from a balcony overlooking the city.

he admired too how junhui did his best to talk to him in a language he barely knew. he used a lot of grand hand gestures in place of words he had yet to learn, but wonwoo was always glad to help him out, inserting words into his fill-in-the-blank sentences. junhui helped him too, teaching him the words in chinese that he couldn’t remember in korean.

“what brings you here then?” wonwoo asked one day. they traded in their swings for the day and decided to take a walk instead. they crunched on the slicky sweet cherry flavored ice of the popsicles they bought from the convenience store across junhui’s aunt’s place. their lips and tongues were tinted a bright shade of red. “if you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

“parents couldn’t keep bring me along. too much of a… burden? yeah that’s the word.they let me stay with my aunt here for now while they work,” he said it so nonchalantly it made wonwoo sad almost. “so i’ll be coming over and living here every summer.”

“how many times will you come back?” junhui just shrugged. they scuffed along the asphalt in silence after that, letting the fabric of awkwardness slip off their beet-red shoulders.

—

on the days it was too hot to rendezvous at the playground, junhui would walk over to wonwoo’s place where they sat shirtless in front of electric fans on full blast and drank ice-cold soda after ice-cold soda just because no one told them when enough was enough. there were times when it was too hot to do anything—even read—so they settled for making noises into the fans and laughing at their warbled words.

the heat made them delirious; they pushed the boundaries of their skinny bodies by consuming enormous amounts of water that they previously thought no human could stomach. after playing their video games to boredom and in desperate search of cold, they would lie on the tiles of wonwoo’s kitchen with their backs bare and their eyes to the ceiling.

“wonwoo?”

“hmm?”

“have you ever seen a baby pigeon?”

“what?”

“a baby pigeon?”

“a baby– huh. i don’t think so.”

“i’m pretty sure no one has ever seen a baby pigeon.”

“what are you saying, then? all pigeons were just cooked up in a lab somewhere in russia or something, and released into the world as fully-grown adults?”

“sounds likely.”

wonwoo turned to his side to face junhui, “you’re weird.”

a laugh, “and you’re one to talk, jeon wonwoo.”

 

iv.

the summer they turned sixteen, a public pool had opened a few streets away from junhui’s place. it was mainly populated by a handful of parents and their young kids and the occasional group of teenagers in various states of drunkenness who frequented it at night. the pair liked to visit it on tuesday mornings, when it was usually void of people.

they paraded the pebble wash in all their lanky, sun-tanned glory and took turns pushing each other into the turquoise pool. they chugged down lemonade and root beer under the shade of big blue umbrellas. when they were tired of swimming, they sat on the pool’s rim with their feet in the water.

junhui liked to close his eyes and face the sun, letting the light reflect off of the drops of water on his cheeks and chest. wonwoo noticed how his face had changed compared to the year they met, he grew into his features, the edges of his face had grown sharper, his body was leaner and more toned and he had grown taller too. he was handsome, he had to admit, and there were far too many occasions where a glace from him would catch him off-guard, or when something he said made the blood rush to his cheeks. wonwoo felt like the only change since then was that he had to wear glasses.

“are you staring again, jeon wonwoo?” junhui teased. he didn’t even have to face wonwoo, who rolled his eyes. “it’s a bad habit you know.”

“i’m not staring, i just have a hard time seeing, remember?” he defended. junhui made a sound like “sure,” and chuckled. he leaned his wet head on wonwoo’s shoulder.

silences were not so awkward with them anymore, they had come to accept them and found solace in the quiet. but wonwoo felt this silence was a bubble about to burst, like something wanted to be said. he felt it in the way junhui’s head moved restlessly on his shoulder, and how his hands tensed when the other’s brushed against his.

“wonwoo?” junhui spoke, voice softer than usual. “c-can i ask you something?”

“shoot.”

he disconnected his head from the other’s shoulders and faced the pool, “the day we met last year… why did you help me?”

if wonwoo were honest, he’d say it was almost out of sheer fascination. junhui was magnetic almost, a presence one would crave to be around. he wanted to know him, to ask about the stickers on his luggage, or what book he was reading, or why he decided to sit underneath the early afternoon sun in the middle of july.

“you looked like a burn victim, man,” wonwoo teased, laughing at the memory. “it was out of pity.”

junhui feigned offense and threatened to push him into the water, “well honestly, if it weren’t for you, that sunblock, and your mom’s aloe vera, i probably wouldn’t be around today. so thanks, i guess,” he giggled. but as soon as the laugh was there, it vanished, replaced with a mask of seriousness, “but really, why? why would you help me?”

wonwoo, sensing the genuine curiosity in his voice, decided to tell him a fragment of the truth, “i don’t know, i-i guess i was curious. i just wanted to know you more.”

junhui smiled and nodded his head slowly as if to take in his answer, “did you?”

“did i what?”

“get to know me more!”

wonwoo gestured to both of them and their surroundings, “we’re hanging out now a year later… what do you think, dumbass?”

junhui stuck his tongue out at him wonwoo whacked him playfully on the head. and in response, junhui placed his hand on the other’s back and pushed him into the pool with a laugh.

after emerging from the water, wet and blinking, wonwoo found junhui laughing hard with his head thrown back and his body shaking. he lunged forward to grab a hold of his wrist and pulled him into the water with him, junhui shrieking. wonwoo laughed too, eyes shut and nose scrunched, and junhui splashed his face with the cool water. they plunged in and out of a mirage of bubbles and chlorine until orange and pink striped the cloudless summer sky.

 

v.

“you’re kidding, right? asked wonwoo.

“do i ever kid?” junhui retorted, arms akimbo, his head cocked to the side.

“yes… all the time, jun.”

“well, this time i am most certainly not kidding, my friend!” he chirped in a sing-song voice. “come with me, please.”

the next summer was unusually rainy, and some days wonwoo would open the door to find junhui, drenched and dripping on his doorstep and panting hard; the thrill-induced smile on his face suggested he wanted wonwoo to join him outside. they walked the length of wonwoo’s street and back with junhui dancing and skipping to unheard music while wonwoo shook his head and giggled at his antics.

once, junhui pulled wonwoo toward him without a warning and waltzed with him under the pouring rain. he span and twirled the shorter boy in an over-exaggerated, elegant manner as wonwoo stumbled over his own feet. he laugh-sang a chinese ballad in a funny voice and made wonwoo double over in laughter until he couldn’t stand up properly anymore.

they paid no mind to the inevitable repercussions of their rainy excursions, which were often found in the form of runny-nosed colds and scraped up knees from slipping. one day it manifested in the form of junhui’s high fever, which wonwoo took upon himself to tend to.

“you know, you really don’t have to do this,” said junhui. “my aunt’s fussy enough for me, you’ll only add fuel to the fire.”

wonwoo set down a steaming bowl of ramen and a few different pills of different color and size on the bedside table. “it’s no problem, man. plus, your aunt’s really sweet.”

“i think she might like you more than me!” the other quipped. his aunt was an affectionate woman, wonwoo believed junhui might have inherited that attribute from her, judging by his clinginess. she barely spoke a lick of korean, but worked with what she had and guided him in the kitchen, teaching him all sorts of tricks and techniques and laughing warmly whether he fumbled or got it right. he wondered why they never thought of spending the previous summers in their home instead of his.

junhui swallowed a green tablet and made a face at the taste. wonwoo pulled up junhui’s desk chair and sat by the side of the bed, “well, she may be nice, but if it weren’t for me your ramen wouldn’t be spicy.”

“you made it spicy?” junhui sat up at this, a sudden bout of energy taking over him. “how did she let you? how did you know i like it spicy?”

“i just did it without her looking. and seriously? i think i’ve been your friend long enough to know how you like your noodles, jun.” junhui beamed. he sniffled and took the bowl, nearly inhaling the whole thing in only a few minutes while wonwoo watched in stunned amusement.

“didn’t know i was so hungry… thanks, wonwoo.” junhui grinned and stretched before assuming his previous position on the bed. he fell asleep almost immediately, evident in the steady rise and fall of his chest beneath the too-flimsy blanket. wonwoo would have to bring him a thicker one next time he came over.

after toying with his game console for a bit, he began to feel a restlessness in his fingertips. he glanced at junhui who was slightly squirming underneath the sheets, his eyes screwed shut in discomfort. wonwoo placed a hand on the other’s forehead, still hot from the fever and slightly sweaty from the ramen. he didn’t know what took over him, but he let his hand wander a bit. he fiddled with the soft hair framing his face and flicked it gently away from his eyes. he brought it up slightly and rubbed circles with his thumb on the top of his forehead.

junhui calmed underneath the touch, features catching the orange lamplight. wonwoo didn’t want to admit it, but he wouldn’t mind looking at junhui forever. he was beautiful, burning gold but moved with the grace of moonlight; a silver presence in the heat of the season. it felt like he was looking at all the things he loved about summer, rolled into one wide-eyed boy in thrift store clothing in spite of his wealth.

when junhui began to stir, he froze in place.

“mmm, that feels nice…” he mumbled as he fluttered sleepy eyes open.

wonwoo felt his face go hot and nudged the other’s head away, “you asshole! you knew the whole time!”

junhui just snickered, “nothing to be—” he yawned, ”—embarrassed about, friend.” he shifted to his side facing wonwoo and closed his eyes again. “it felt like my mom was here…”

“i-is that… a good thing?”

he wriggled his hand from under the cover and grabbed wonwoo’s wrist to bring his hand to the side of his head himself. “yeah...” the shells of wonwoo’s ears glowed a bright red.

“do you have to go home?” junhui hummed. wonwoo considered this: would his parents even notice he was gone? probably not. and he guessed junhui’s aunt liked him enough to not mind too much.

“well, i guess not…” he decided..

“stay here...” he whined. “i’m lonely…”

“you need to sleep,” said wonwoo, gently pushing junhui’s head into the pillow.

“stay…” he mumbled again before falling back into sleep.

“i wasn’t planning on going anywhere anyway.”

 

vi.

being junhui’s friend for a long time, wonwoo considered himself somewhat fluent in the language of his love. he was someone who loved in warm embraces and arms slung across shoulders. wonwoo, who thought of himself as someone who loved in time, eventually got used to the sudden bouts of affection from the other. he never minded—or at least tried not to get affected—when he first draped an arm across him in his sleep or planted a kiss on the side of his head.

but inklings of a small crush tend to cloud proper judgement, and sitting next to said crush with his head on your shoulder really drive the nails in.

despite the heat, they clung together in front of junhui’s laptop, watching a horror movie that wasn’t even scary (that’s what junhui said, but his constant flinches proved otherwise). but all the blood and guts got old a little bit after half of the film, and both boys were getting bored; it was evident in wonwoo’s nth yawn and junhui’s restless squirming.

a particular shocking scene made them both jump, and junhui dug blunt nails into wonwoo’s thigh. his other hand covered his eyes, but his fingers made a window for him to peep through.

“i thought you said this wasn’t scary?” wonwoo asked.

“y-yeah, it’s not! i just forgot what happened, that’s it.” he defended. wonwoo scoffed in disbelief and junhui smacked his arm in feigned offense.

another more shocking scene made them yell a tad too loud, and both fell into giggles after the scare. junhui draped himself over the other’s crossed legs and wonwoo draped himself over junhui’s form. wonwoo reached over and paused the film for both to catch their bearings.

“you fucking lied!” said wonwoo, pushing junhui off of him.

“o-okay, maybe it was a bit… scarier than i remember,” junhui said in between giggles and shortness of breath. “but those effects were trash though.”

wonwoo nodded, “you know for their budget, they could have at least made the blood more realistic than just cornstarch and food coloring.”

“eyyyy, but you got scared anyway, didn’t you?”.

“sure,” he answered. junhui seemed satisfied enough with that.

junhui repositioned his head on wonwoo’s lap, looking up at him with those wide eyes wonwoo had grown weak for. wonwoo hoped junhui couldn’t feel him tremble ever so slightly.

“d-do you want to watch something else?” wonwoo suggested, hoping to revert the other’s attention away from him for a while.

“hmm, not really. i kinda want to just lie here for awhile…” the last word transitioned into a yawn. “unless you want to?”

“no! no, no, i- uh- it’s fine.”

junhui made a noise of acknowledgement and closed his eyes. they were silent for awhile and listened to the cacophony of insects outside. wonwoo flicked the other’s hair back and forth across his forehead until he giggled, the sound a lighthouse in the midst of the night’s silence.

“wonwoo?” junhui’s eyes fluttered open. “can i tell you something?”

wonwoo was flustered by the sudden serious tone he hardly took on, “uh, sure.”

“to put it frankly, i didn’t have a lot of friends back home. a few close ones, sure, but they’d always drift away. and it hurt. i was scared to make new ones because i thought they’d leave me, and it’d create this vicious cycle which would always wind up with my feelings bruised.”

wonwoo looked down at junhui, who was looking somewhere far off.

“i hated leaving here and coming back home to no one welcoming me. but—“ he looked up and locked eyes with wonwoo. “—you always waited. you sent letters like clockwork, you remembered my birthday, you’d text me just to show me pictures of cats you found. every summer since i started coming here, i’d see you sitting on the curb across the house with two sodas in your hands, and i always knew one was for me.”

junhui sat up and faced him. moonlight glinted off the tears brimming in his eyes and wonwoo’s chest wrenched.

“i started feeling like this was home, and i was coming home to you.”

junhui looked down and smiled, a tear dripping onto his lap. “i guess, thanks for being my friend and making my summers less lonely, is what i want to say. sorry, this is so pathetic.” he wiped at his eyes with the back of his hands and laughed at himself.

wonwoo pulled away junhui’s wrists from his eyes and wrapped him in a tight hug reminiscent of the kind junhui would always give him. he could tell he was slightly stunned from the rare initiation of affection from his part, but when he felt him melt into his touch, his soul was sent into a starry daze, his heart in the sky. no wonder junhui loved like this.

“you’re not pathetic, jun,” wonwoo reassured. he felt his shirtsleeve go wet and the other’s grip tighten, “summers were lonely for me too, before you. you gave me something to look forward to.”

“i love you,” junhui whispered, only loud enough for wonwoo to hear, a secret meant for him and the moon.

wonwoo didn’t say it back, but repeated the words over and over in his mind like a silent midnight prayer, hoping junhui could pick up on it from the way he held him.

 

vii.

there was a light breeze lilting about the playground when they returned for the first time in a while. it was obvious they had grown from the way their knees nearly went up to their chests when they sat on the swings. they gave them up once they heard the metal creak a tad too ominously under them after constant movement. the sky was nearly a mirror image of the first afternoon they had met, cloudless and vast with the hot sun beating down on their heads.

wonwoo rolled out a small blanket on the grass under a shady spot and told—or rather, pushed—junhui to lie back next to him. the kind of silence that laid between them was the kind that was too loud, ringing-in-your-ears kind of loud.

“why did you ask me to come out here with you again?” junhui asked, for the sake of silencing the quiet itself.

“because it’s too hot and stuffy to stay inside,” wonwoo whined.

“you do realize it’s just as hot out here, right?”

“change of scene?”

“why did you really bring me out here?” junhui asked, propping himself up on his elbows to look at wonwoo.

“can’t i just spend some precious time with my dear best friend?” wonwoo teased. junhui rolled his eyes, but resumed his previous position on the blanket, seemingly satisfied with the answer.

wonwoo knew it was a bad habit of his, one that junhui called him out on since the day they met, but he couldn’t help but stare at the boy lying next to him. junhui could almost always tell when he was looking, a fact he found equal parts incredible and creepy.

“this seems familiar, huh? jeon wonwoo?” he joked, not even opening his eyes to look at him. ”we’ve been over this.”

“i can’t help it,” wonwoo admitted.

junhui propped himself up on an elbow again, this time looking down at wonwoo with a stare that challenged his own. “i just realized i’ve never tried beating you at your own game, so let’s play.” said junhui, drilling his glare into wonwoo at an exaggerated intensity. it wasn’t long before they collapsed into a fit of laughter.

after the high, they let silence nestle in again, but the space between them was a lot smaller. and when wonwoo took another glance at the other, he was looking back too.

it was something like instinct when wonwoo turned and reached out and ran shaky fingertips across junhui’s jawline, moving upward slowly until he was cupping his cheek. junhui lay still, keeping his eyes on him in unbroken focus.

“do you want to know why i stare?” wonwoo asked, his voice low, as if the trees and the wind were eavesdropping.

junhui grinned, all gummy and heart-shaped like wonwoo loved, “do tell.”

“it’s just… you’re beautiful,” there was a look of something like disbelief that flashed on junhui’s features, quickly replaced with one of wonder.

“wonwoo…”

“and i’m in love with you. i love you so much i don’t even know what to do with myself. that’s why i stare.” wonwoo had never bared his soul to someone like he did then, opening himself up like halved fruit for junhui.

in spite of his lack of response, junhui seemed to pick up on that. he took both hands and cupped wonwoo’s face, and they trailed further until his fingers ran through the hair on the base of his head.

when junhui kissed him, he tasted like sugary sweet fruit punch and summertime; he was summertime. he felt him mutter an ‘i love you’ into the kiss, he melted under his touch, he opened his chest and let junhui’s light pour through it. wonwoo realized he didn't mind this kind of heat, he'd gladly burn in it.

**Author's Note:**

> i challenged myself to write something longer and this was the result!! i hope you somehow were able to bear all of the summer-related metaphors and adjectives i could conjure up. please feel free to comment and give feedback, it's always appreciated, and if you want to reach me on twitter i'm chanhaoshua!!


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